Penn State pounds Hawaii

Penn State, flexing its No. 1 muscle, continued its dominance over No. 12 Hawaii last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

PENN ST.

3

HAWAII

0

NEXT UP
vs. Ohio today

A very balanced attack by the Nittany Lions - behind 13 kills by Megan Hodge and 12 from Nicole Fawcett - proved too much for the work-in-progress Rainbow Wahine as Penn State swept Hawaii 25-21, 25-19, 25-19 in the second match of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic. The Wahine, losing their home opener for the second straight season, dropped to 0-4 against the Nittany Lions.

CINDY LUIS

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Catherine Fowler and Jamie Houston of UH went up for a block against Penn State last night.

No. 1 Penn State, with All-Americans at nearly every position, was simply better when it counted last night.

Megan Hodge put down 13 kills, including five in the final minutes, as the defending national champion Nittany Lions swept No. 12 Hawaii 25-21, 25-19, 25-19 in 92 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A turnstile crowd of 5,565 (7,111 tickets) saw the Rainbow Wahine drop their second consecutive season opener, the first time that's happened in the 35 years of the program.

But unlike last year's 3-2 stunner by Michigan, last night's outcome in the Hawaiian Airlines Classic wasn't a total surprise. And, unlike last year, Hawaii felt it had a number of positives to build on when taking on unranked Ohio (0-1) in tonight's second match.

"I thought our passing was a plus tonight," UH freshman hitter Kanani Herring said after her solid debut. "The one thing we need to work on is those holes we kept digging for oursleves.

"We were right there with them."

It was the same feeling Ohio had when falling in last night's opener to No. 6 UCLA. The Bruins also pulled away at the end of each set in a 25-21, 25-22, 25-17 sweep.

UCLA (1-0) and Penn State (1-0) meet in today's 5 p.m. opener.

Nittany Lions coach Russ Rose may continue to wear his "lucky" shirt bought when his team won its first national championship here in 1999.

"I think winning at Hawaii is always a task," Rose said. "They forced us to play very well. They're a much improved team over last year. It was a challenge for us, we certainly had our hands full. And I know the fans will love the career that Kanani will have."

That Herring started last night wasn't a surprise. That senior Tara Hittle was at libero was.

"I thought Dani (sophomore setter Mafua) played well and her hitters got good swings. When we passed, we ran a really good offense."

And when the Wahine didn't, they had a hard time getting the ball to the middle.

Junior Amber Kaufman was effective, with four kills and no errors, but only took 10 swings. Starting middle Cat Fowler had two kills in four touches and Amanda Simmons, subbing in late, took three swings with no kills.

"The little mistakes we made seemed to happen when we were even or just a point behind," Hittle said. "We'd get close then make a mistake and we're down two. With it going to 25 (instead of 30 points), it goes real quick.

"I think we showed we could play with them," added Herring. "We just have to convert more kills, dig deep and come out and do our best again."

Hawaii's best chance at taking a set might have been in the first one when closing to 21-20. But Arielle Wilson put down two kills and Houston was blocked to help the Nittany Lions close it out.

Nicole Fawcett added 12 kills for Penn State, which out-dug Hawaii 39-32. Roberta Holehouse had 14 digs for the Nittany Lions and Hittle had 11 for the Wahine.